You can get a new highwall action from C.Sharps Co. or from ???? (come on guys, help me out --Brain f##t). There is also an excelent bbl/action from Borchardt Rifle Co. in Silver City, N.M. or if you would like a side hammer action, there is the Wesson #1 action from Steve Earle -- see action on this site.   Ken

Sounds to me like something on the order of a .25 Krag Improved, in a Winchester Single Shot action, set triggers, and about a #3 weight barrel.  I'm sure Ballard Rifle Company can fix you right up, in whatever degree of finish, and extra cost options, that your heart desires.

Just might have to wait a bit while they build it, but that'll be the case anyway if you have one built from scratch.

Greg

Green Frog: if you found a $500 beater M1885 action, I think you’d be lucky. And you’d need a body guard. Up here, they are scarce & ‘spensive’.

I echo your comments about finding a gfood one to build on. Then when you figure in the materials & having someone do the work if you can't do it yourself, "rebuilding " an original adds up very quick. If you're not careful, it can easily exceed the price of a new/reproduction rifle. Every time I look @ & contemplate a rifle built on my #5RB action, I feel the $$ leaving my bank acc't....

From what I can gather from your initial post, your two prime criteria are deer-killing power out to 350 yds and tack-driving accuracy. A unique action and quality appearance are also on your list but maybe not quite as important as the performance?

In any case I would not suggest an original or original-style Winchester or Stevens action. I know I'll take some heat for this but that's my opinion, based on lack of guaranteed accuracy potential. Mainly lack of a drawbolt on the buttstock, which means a less-rigid platform. Some of the high wall repros such as Ballard or Meacham can be had with a drawbolt & they have a reasonable accuracy potential because of it IMO.

I've seen a couple of test articles on Ballard & Meacham rifles built on their high wall actions, and they appeared to shoot very well according to the writers. I say again, "according to the writers" they shot well, but, even according to the writers, none of them approached .5 MOA.

One of my shooting buds has a Miller-de Haas light rifle in 225 Winchester, built in its entirety by Kyle Miller about 8 yrs ago. Weighs about 9 lbs including scope & will shoot into about .5-.75 MOA after some tuning by the owner. Cost over $4000 (before optics) about 8 yrs ago and is built on an ugly action but is the best-shooting single shot of my somewhat limited experience, only about 4 dozen over the years so far.

Out of about 2 dozen Winchester high/low walls so far, my best shooter (223 Rem reline) will do about .75 MOA on average.

Col Whelen said that the most accurate of his many single shots was a custom Sharps Borchardt varminter. One of my Borchardts is extremely accurate (17 lbs) but it won't do .5 MOA on a guaranteed basis.

So I guess what I'm saying is that maybe your accuracy requirement is a little far out there for a single shot sporter.

To kill deer reliably & humanely at 350 yds requires a flat-shooting cartridge with reasonable bullet weight, IMO nothing less than 115 grains & no less than 2800 fps. I chose these numbers specifically to exclude almost all of the 6mm-&-smaller calibers, because in my experience they aren't good killers on deer at long range unless with head shots. This isn't the forum for a caliber argument but I can say that my opinion is based upon extensive shooting of several hundred whitetail deer at ranges from 20 yds to 600 yds with several rifles. The 243 Winchester M70 bull gun soon got rechambered to 6mm-284 and matters improved noticably. The 25-06 was noticably better still, and the 7mm Mag was the best of all those tried.

One of the very best single shot (read rimmed) rifle cartridges for your purpose is the 7x65R. It's basically a rimmed 280 Remington although they're not interchangeable. Another good choice would be the 30R Blaser, although it's certainly more powerful than necessary & so would be less pleasant to shoot. There are also other high-velocity European rimmed cartridges in the 6.5-7mm family that would be almost perfect for you, but ammo might be a problem unless you handload.

I emphasize high velocity, at least 2800 fps muzzle velocity, because you intend to shoot out to 350 yds. I consider that to be the maximum range for the very good rifle shot, and very few hunters are also very good rifle shots, OR good range estimators for that matter, so a flat trajectory is a must. My personal rule is, if I hafta aim over the deer's back then he's too far unless I've gotten a clear reading on my laser rangefinder & also have had time to figure the exact holdover. How many times does this happen?

My other personal rule is, when I pull the trigger I want to see feet in the air. No running off, no havng to wait 30 min & trail him up, no second shot required, no 'behind the shoulder' shots, no lost game at all, period. So I tend to use enough gun so that the animal dies instantly or as close to it as possible.

Of course we have a lotta deer down here, they're sometimes considered more of a dangerous nuisance than a big-game animal. I could tell you stories...........

My personal choice would be a Hagn action built by Edd Webber to the same specs as his 30-06 Hagn shown in Steve Hughes' outstanding book Custom Rifles in Black and White. This rifle is just about perfect IMO but I'd like it in either 7x65R or one of the hot 6.5 mms, with a scope of course.

It's my understanding that the Hagn action alone starts around $4000, so a nice rifle would cost at least $8000 IMO. Wish I had the money. I consider the Hagn action to be the most aesthetically-pleasing of them all, when built by a genuine artist such as Webber. MUCH better and better-looking than either the Ruger or especially the M10 IMO.

Now let me brace for the flames, 'cause I KNOW they're out there!
Good luck on your quest, Joe

I'm going to stick in one more sugestion the Little Sharps. It is a slightly smaller version of the origional Sharps. I know that it has been chambered for 30-40 Kraig. It would make a neat deer rifle and be light enough to carry in the woods.

40 Rod

WoW!  What great feedback!  I think these suggestions have narrowed down my choices considerably.  Looks like I need to avoid original actions and look at a Hagn, Borchardt or High Wall repro from Ballard or Meacham.  Does anyone have links for photos or specs on these actions?  I'm not interested in a side hammer or Sharps.

There doesn't appear to be a Kenny Jarrett, Charlie Sisk or Mark Bansner of single shots, someone who can put together a rifle with premium components and painstaking craftsmanship and produce a .5 MOA rifle.  Is there anyone close?  I'm not familiar with Al Story.  Is he a craftsman?  I've had good luck sending rifles to Hart, Shilen, Lilja, Kreiger, Pac-Nor and even Douglas.  I've also had mediocre luck.  It just depends who's running the lathe and the reamer that day.  I want someone who cares.   

Why is a rimmed cartridge preferable?  Won't a rimless cartridge function reliably?  All my single shots to date have chambered rimless cartridges.  Other than the 25 Krag and 7.65R, what are the rimmed cartridges you would recommend that produce ballistics similar to the 25-06 to 280 range?  What are the hot 6.5mm's I should look at?  I would much rather have a traditional cartridge but I don't think I'll find one with the energy or trajectory needed for 350 yard shots at large deer.

I like the idea of getting a Ballard High Wall Classic or a Browning 1885 and rebarrelling it, etc., but I don't want to spend a lot of money and just roll the dice on it's accuracy potential.  If I change my accuracy requirement to less than 1 MOA out to 350 yards, does that open up any new avenues?  Thanks for all the great advice!  As you can see, I need all the help I can get!

Jim

hi-ho old dog,,

i do have an 85 browning hi wall that was a 30-06. had it chambered to 3oo win mag. because it is a hunting rifle, it was only tested with 3 shot groups.(if you need more than 3 shots, find another hobby) (:>) 

it will put 3 out of a clean bbl into .5-.75 at 200yds all day long. this is the rifle i use when hunting on a manmade hill on the farm. have yardage markers out to 500 yrds around the man made hill. and like jd steele sez, it's feet up with one shot.

..ttfngrampa...